Next Saturday, the streets of Victoria in Gozo, will once again become the setting for a 26th edition of L-Imsallab fi Triqatna – Pageant of the Passion of Christ- (The crucified in our streets).

This unique street theatre performance takes place on the Saturday before Easter, organised by the Ghaqda Dilettanti Gimgha l-Kbira – Ghawdex, and depicts “the Last Days of Jesus Christ as a human being in the world.”

The general public will be able to watch the story unfold and witness these last hours etched in human history and become part of the performance as they follow it along the way as this pageant is enacted through the winding streets of Victoria.

The evening opens at St Augustine’s Square, from where the theatrical production starts at 7.30pm, on Saturday, the 28th of March.

Thirteen different episodes of the last days of Christ will be acted out in various stations, culminating in the Sanhedrin process and trial before Pilate, which takes place in Republic Street, followed by the Crucifixion up near the Citadel. More than 200 actors take part in the pageant.

The first passion play dates back to 1999. In that year it was performed at the Don Bosco Theatre in Victoria, Gozo.

Then in the year 2000, the Passion play was performed with a difference. Ghaqda Dilettanti Gimgha l-Kbira – Ghawdex said that the venue was neither a theatre nor a church but just the streets forming the core of the oldest locality in Gozo, namely the borgo of Victoria, the island’s capital.

This performance was called L-Imsallab fi Triqatna (The crucified in our streets) and now continues each year.

Ghaqda Dilettanti Gimgha l-Kbira – Ghawdex , was founded in June 1997 by a group of Gozitan enthusiasts, who were fond of the easter traditions in the Maltese islands. Its purpose was to promote Lent, Holy Week and the Easter traditions in Malta and Gozo.

File photo Ghaqda Dilettanti Gimgha l-Kbira – Ghawdex

Permalink: Gozo: Pageant of the Passion of Christ next Saturday in Victoria